


Can't Say Much of Anything That's New

by Hairofgoldeyesofblue



Series: Under the Influence [3]
Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Season 2, Texting, Wine, post 2x05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 08:51:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1976697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hairofgoldeyesofblue/pseuds/Hairofgoldeyesofblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sloan tries to talk some sense into Will while he's dating Nina. Set in between "News Night With Will McAvoy" and "One Step Too Many."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Say Much of Anything That's New

**Author's Note:**

> For the anon on Tumblr that requested Drunk Sloan. Not sure if this is really what you had in mind, but this is what I came up with. Hope you like it anyway!
> 
> Title comes from a line in the Carole King song "So Far Away."

Sloan Sabbith was a subdued drunk. To be fair, her alcohol tolerance was high (thanks to the German branch of her father’s ancestry), and it took a lot to get her to the point of _feeling_ anything. She tended to order wine or martinis and pretend it was a struggle to keep up with her friends.

On this particular night she wasn’t in the mood to fake it, so she sat in a dark corner of Hang Chew’s, sipping a glass of merlot, and scrolling mindlessly through her phone. Once in awhile, she’d glance over her coworkers who were getting rowdier with each passing hour. The only ones who were missing were Mackenzie and Will – though Sloan was sure they weren’t missing for the same reason. The death of Will’s father the week before seemed to have hit Mackenzie harder than it had Will. Sloan didn’t know exactly what _that_ meant.

Scrolling through her Twitter feed was proving to be surprisingly uninteresting, and before she knew it, she was texting Will.

 _You should be with Mac,_ she had typed, hitting send before she really thought about what she was doing – and hey, maybe her brain _was_ feeling a little hazy after all, and the wine was doing its job for a change.

Will’s reply came a few minutes later. _I’m at Nina’s._ And then the subsequent message: _Is Mac, okay?_

 _NO,_ Sloan typed, _I mean you should BE with Mac. As in, instead of with Mrs. MacBeth – doing whatever it is you guys did before you broke up._

_I was dating her and she was cheating on me. That sound like what you had in mind?_

Sloan rolled her eyes. _It’s been FIVE YEARS. As your surrogate younger sister, I think it’s my job to say GET OVER IT._

_I am over it. That’s why I’m dating Nina._

Sloan groaned in frustration. The man was insufferable. She didn’t know how Mackenzie dealt with him every day. _You need to be nicer to Mac. If you’re not careful, she won’t renew her contract next year and she’ll leave again._

It took about ten minutes for Will to reply, and when he finally did, she could sense a change in his tone. _Has she talked about it? Leaving?_

Sloan briefly considered lying, but then realized the irony of lying to Will about Mackenzie. _Look, I’m not great with getting people to open up, but if I were her, I’d be considering it._

_Is she at Hang Chew’s?_

_No, I think she went home. She said she didn’t want to be around everybody._ And then just because she was feeling daring, she added: _She’s seemed kind of depressed lately, don’t you think?_

Will didn’t say anything after that and Sloan didn’t know if it was a good thing, or if she’d taken one step too far over the line. As she finished off her glass of wine, she sighed, hoping desperately that her friends would find some way to work out their issues and be happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
